The singer has around 100 million listeners per month, earning him the title of “most popular artist” from the Guinness World Records.
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, the singer known as “The Weeknd,” has made history by being the only artist on Spotify to have reached 111.4 million monthly listeners as of March 20. Statistically speaking, this makes him the most popular artist in the world—a title that was made official by the Guinness World Records (GWR) in a statement shared earlier this week.
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“No one else even comes close,” the organization explains in the very same announcement.
According to the data, the only other artist that comes closest to the Weeknd’s record-breaking numbers is Miley Cyrus, with a total of around 82.4 million monthly listeners.
Other popular artists include Shakira (81.6 million), Ariana Grande (80.6 million), Taylor Swift (80.2 million) and Rihanna (78.5 million). Meanwhile, the Weeknd’s closest male competitor was English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, who currently has 77.5 million listeners.
History in the Making
While the Weeknd’s latest achievement is certainly a momentous one, it’s actually not the first time the Canadian singer has earned a world record. His 2015 album Beauty Behind the Madness was named the most streamed album in 2016 by the GWR.
Recently, the remix of his song “Die For You” (first featured in his acclaimed album Starboy), featuring long-time collaborator Ariana Grande, went viral on TikTok and made it to the number one spot on Billboard Hot 100—marking both his and Grande’s seventh number one hit.
“Die for You” is just one hit song among many others from the talented musician; the tunes “I Can’t Feel My Face,” “Blinding Lights,” and “The Hills” also took top spots on music charts. In fact, Starboy (2016) is his third album with multiple top singles, succeeding Beauty Behind the Madness and After Hours. According to the GWR, the only other solo male artist who achieved such a feat was the legendary Michael Jackson.
Banner Photo via Instagram @theweeknd.
